New Beginnings
by FaireShamanda
Summary: What happens after the action ends? This is a series of one-shots, imagining what might have happened between scenes and at the end of each episode. They will mostly focus on Arthur and Merlin and the development of their combined destiny.
1. The Dragon's Call

"Father, I can NOT believe you just made that idiot, Merlin, my manservant. What were you thinking?"

Arthur hurried after his father, ignoring the fact that everyone they passed stopped to stare. He knew that raising his voice to the King in public like this was bad form, but it was the first chance he'd had since his father's hasty decision and he wasn't about to let it slip by.

Uther turned to look at his son, a strange look of anger mixed with fear crossing his features before being schooled into the composed mask he had perfected long ago for moments like this.

"Arthur, why do you question me?" he asked, a slight hint of annoyance evident in his voice. "The boy saved your life: who better to serve you than one who would act so quickly when your life is at risk?"

"Because he's an idiot. Yesterday he didn't even know who I was and today he still managed to act like a fool. He doesn't know how to behave."

"He behaved perfectly this evening," Uther said pointedly. "You are long overdue a servant of your own, it is no good having the Kings heir being served by just anyone from the castle. I would have thought you'd be happy to finally have someone who could serve you faithfully."

"I would be," Arthur replied hotly, "if you'd chosen someone else."

"Need I remind you," Uther said, his voice rising to match his son's, "that I have suggested several manservants in the past and none have suited. It will do you good to accept this graciously."

"But I don't like him," Arthur spat, "he's ignorant, rude and an idiot."

"You don't have to _like_ him, and as for the rest, well, you'll just have to train him."

"But, father, I…"

"I'm sorry, Arthur," his father cut him off sharply. "My word is final. The boy saved your life and for that he gains the honour of serving in the royal household. Do not let me hear word that my son is ungracious by refusing to uphold his honour."

"No father," Arthur said, head bowing as he realised there was no getting out of this. He watched as his father turned on his heel and strode for his chambers, no doubt to process the night's events and decide how to deal with the aftermath of a shot at his son's life.

_Why did it have to be that idiot who saved me?_ He thought, irritation making him grouchy. Teaching him a thing or two about respect had been fun, when he was just an unknown boy wandering about the castle grounds and lower town. Throwing him in a cell had been even better, but his connection to Gaius had soon dealt with that. How could someone like _Merlin_ be connected to the wise and kindly Gaius?

He had to give it to the boy, though, he had a very strange sense of honour. Not for royalty, as was expected, but honour nonetheless. He'd stood up for a servant he'd never met and then fought Arthur, despite knowing the prince could easily beat him.

_An idiot_, he thought. _It's that simple: who else would pick a fight they couldn't win, not once but twice? _He guessed that was why he'd taken so long to beat Merlin that second time, stumbling and falling all over the place. He'd never tripped over so many things before, and the only explanation he could think of was that his opponent's complete lack of self-preservation had thrown him. He'd expected him to either run away, like most servants, or fight back like one of his knights. He had never fought someone quite like Merlin and as much as the younger man annoyed him, he had to admit he was slightly intrigued by what must have been going through his head when he chose to fight instead of flee.

_Probably didn't think_, he thought and let out a chuckle, startling one of the girls who were busy clearing out the mess in the hall. Arthur shuddered when he thought back to how easily they had all fallen under the spell, how much damage the witch had made in such a short time and how close he had come to losing his life.

_Why did he save my life?_ he wondered. He thought back to how Merlin had appeared out of nowhere, moving him when his own muscles wouldn't react. Had it not been for his quick response, Arthur would have been dead, such was the aim of the old woman. But it wasn't the speed with which the clumsy oaf had reacted but the reason behind it that confused the prince. If he took the earlier examples of Merlin's behaviour, the boy not only hated him but also had no regard for the way in which royalty should be treated. So why had he jumped in to save the man he despised?

Arthur shook his head, realising that he really should return to his rooms instead of remaining here in the corridor where he was attracting far more curious looks than were really necessary. The matter of Merlin could wait until morning when he started in this new role neither of them wanted for him.

As he walked, however, he began to think of all the things he could do to "train" his new manservant and a smirk lit his face. Just because he had been thrust into the prince's employment as an honour, didn't mean he would get an easy ride.

Planning his "training", Arthur called one of the servants he passed and instructed him to call on Merlin. His official work might not start until morning, but a little bit of "practise" might be fun.

Later that night, Merlin returned to Gaius' room, arms full of armour and a long list of chores he'd be expected to do come morning. He couldn't believe the prince had already found time to not only plan out a gruelling routine of tasks from cleaning his chambers to polishing his armour, but had also planned battle training for his new servant.

"_I can't take you out on hunting trips and patrol work if you don't even know how to hold a sword right, Merlin, can I?" _The prince had sneered, taking far too much pleasure in Merlin's response to the news. _"You might have no sense of danger, but I don't want you getting me into trouble by standing there and letting an enemy strike you down while I'm busy fighting someone else. Besides, I have a tournament to train for and I could use a sparring partner."_

Merlin sighed. No matter how much he had tried to persuade the prince that he'd be worse with a sword than without, he knew the morning would bring an onslaught of pain and beatings. He guessed he had himself to blame, or rather his big mouth: why did he always have to speak before he really thought about what he was saying? Insulting the Crown Prince of Camelot was not his smartest move, even if he was a prat.

"I guess you'll be needing your sleep, then?" Gaius said, looking at Merlin's list and chuckling to himself. "You'll be wishing you were still helping me sooner than you imagined by the look of this."

"I already wish I were helping you," he replied, frowning at the thought of tomorrow's dawn.

Gaius simply laughed louder and steered his charge towards his bed.


	2. Valient

A/N: This is set after 1:02 (Valient).

Thanks to those who have read and added this for alerts. I'm trying to keep these "missing scenes/afterthoughts" as true to the development of their characters throughout the series, but any thoughts/reviews about how this is going (i.e. are they moving along fast enough, are the topics covered interesting) will be much appreciated.

Arthur sat in his chambers, by the fire, watching the flames slowly die out. He was exhausted after the days of fighting and sleepless nights, but still sleep would not come. Every time he considered climbing into bed, his mind would return to the events of the tournament and the actions of his new servant, Merlin.

No matter how much he tried, he just could not understand what drove Merlin to act the way he did. It had been clear to Arthur, and anyone else who had seen their first meeting together, that he had no respect for the prince of Camelot. And yet, already he had saved his life twice.

Not that Arthur would admit he'd been saved a second time to anyone else. If anyone asked, he knew he would lose no time in assuring them that he would have succeeded in defeating his opponent even without prior knowledge of Sir Valient's sorcery. But truth be told, he also knew that the sudden use of magic could have cost him valuable seconds had he not expected it.

Merlin was a complete mystery, so different to the servants he had watched and known all his life. One minute he was insolent and rude, yet the next he was saving the very man he professed to hate. And as for his abilities as a servant, well those were just as confusing. After a rocky start with no idea of how to even dress a knight for battle, he had gone on to complete all the tasks Arthur had given him in an unbelievably short amount of time. He had never seen such a fast turnaround and his mind kept swaying between being impressed at Merlin's work and infuriated by the lack of fodder for teasing the boy with. What was the point of having an idiot as a servant, if not to provide him with reason to let out his frustrations?

_What __is__ it about him? _Arthur wondered, not for the first time since they met. There was something that the prince could not quite target that made his senses itch. Years of training to be the best knight in Camelot had honed his intuition so well that he often found himself acting on instinct, despite what logic might have to say. It was that very instinct that had made him trust his new servant when he spoke against Sir Valient, an act for which Arthur could easily have lost more than his reputation.

_Damn him!_ Arthur jumped up from his chair and paced the room, trying desperately to make sense of the whole thing. Two weeks ago he would never have listened to a servant, especially not one as annoying as Merlin. But then, who but Merlin would have been crazy enough to make such an accusation in the first place? Arthur had to admit that the boy had a weird kind of bravery, but bravery nonetheless. And the honesty with which he spoke was refreshing, if completely out of line. It had amused him to listen to Merlin's faint mutterings as the tournament had progressed, forming opinions not unlike the prince's own about each new competitor. Perhaps this was why he had so easily believed the accusation against his final opponent.

He scowled to himself as he thought of the rebuke his father had been forced to give in front of the court. He should have known no-one would take the word of a servant against the word of a knight, he had been so stupid. Watching Merlin being escorted from the room and knowing he could do nothing about it had caused him some grief: no matter how furious he was with his servant, he knew he should be the one dealing with him, not the guards.

And yet, when he had the chance, it was not the thrashing he had thought he would give. He had lost his chance to blame Merlin when he had first chosen to believe him. Realising how easily he had been convinced of his servant's word, he knew he had to remove the threat from his service. A prince could not follow the guidance of a servant, no matter what his instincts told him. It just was not right.

_But he was right_, he thought. _He acted to save the life of his prince, at the risk of his own neck. Why?_ Arthur sighed, because no matter how much he went over it all he could not seem to understand his servant or, in fact, his own reaction to him.

_I guess it's going to be a long night…_

Elsewhere in the castle, two others could not find sleep, though the reason for this could not have been more different that the prince's internal musings.

"Merlin, we cannot leave him like that, you must find a way to change him back," Gaius cried in exasperation.

"I'm trying," his ward replied, flashing the older man an irritated glance. "It's hard to concentrate when he keep growling like that."

The pair looked across the room at where a large black dog stood, trying to free himself from the makeshift harness they had created.

"Why did you have to choose such an impossible creature to bring to life?"

"I don't know, Gaius, I guess I was too busy trying to save Arthur's life to worry about choosing the right kind of animal," Merlin huffed, wondering why he always seemed to bear the brunt of everyone's bad mood these days.

"I'm sorry, Merlin," his guardian said softly, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's been a long day for both of us."

Merlin thought back over the day and realised that the tournament had taken a lot out of the court physician. Despite only having a couple of fatalities, he had been kept busy dealing with the more minor injuries of each of the knights competing. Though most had been straightforward, a couple had required slightly more assistance to heal efficiently, including a head wound that had become infected through one knight's insistence that it was "merely a scratch".

He shook his head in wonder at the pig-headedness of some of the knights. He had thought Arthur was bad enough, but some of the visiting knights had been far harsher on those serving them. He'd thought Valient just another bully when the knight had drawn his sword on him, only later realising that his reaction was out of fear of discovery rather than simple power tactics.

Perhaps Gaius was right, perhaps what Merlin had done was brave. He had been rather too shocked at the old man's praise to realise it at the time. More often than not all his guardian did was rebuke him for his use of magic and lack of caution. Arthur was not the only one causing him to reassess his initial impression of life here in Camelot. With each passing day he saw a depth to the man who had his mother's trust to guide her son. What had initially appeared as a short-temper turned out to be concern for anyone in his care, and even more startling had been the humour with which his eyes sparkled when the opportunity arose.

Merlin grinned as he thought of the man who had so easily taken him in and dealt with far more complications than he had ever put his mother through. His mum would be mortified if she knew just how much more trouble her son could get into at the castle, and he promised himself never to let her find out. It seemed he had found a friend in Gaius, as well as a guardian, and he was not about to jeopardize that by getting himself sent back to his village.

After all, Gaius was right: he had begun to enjoy himself at the tournament, before he knew of the plan to kill Arthur, of course. Which brought him to another thought: why did he keep saving the prince? Hadn't he told the Great Dragon that he hated Arthur? Truth was, he was beginning to hate the dragon instead, talking in riddles all the time and proclaiming a great destiny that he and the prince shared. _The half cannot truly hate what makes it whole_, he'd said: how infuriating that he should be right. Arthur may have acted like he hated his servant, but Merlin had seen the occasional looks of appraisal the prince had given him. Maybe hate was too harsh a word.

Merlin certainly no longer _hated_ the prince, not since he had seen the pain in his eyes as he faced a fight he knew could kill him. In that moment, when he had explained his duty to the people and exactly why he could not withdraw, Merlin had seen a vulnerability he had not expected from one as arrogant as Arthur. Perhaps there was hope yet for the fulfilment of this "destiny".

"Merlin, what's with you?" Gaius' voice sounded loud in his ear, startling him from his reverie.

"Mm… what?"

"Why have you stopped trying, that harness won't last all night, you know. What are you going to do if he breaks free. I'm certainly not risking my fingers, trying to tether him up again."

Suddenly he was all too aware of the deep growling coming from deep within the dog's throat. Remembering just how close to serious injury they had come in trying to control the beast earlier, Merlin focussed his attention on the book before him and began once more to try and turn it back into the statue it truly was.

_It's going to be a long night_, he thought.


End file.
